The story which inspired 'The Act' (episodes 1-7 now streaming on Hulu)
i do not own the rights to this story
TRIGGER WARNING
Her 'Sickness'
Gypsy was, by many accounts, a fit baby. She was healthy at birth, (Gypsy's father) Rod, said, while Dee Dee's nephew, Bobby, said he didn't believe she had any known health , other than having possibly been born slightly premature.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
But at only a few months old, Gypsy became a mainstay at the local hospital. Dee Dee said she believed Gypsy stopped breathing in the night because she suffered from sleep apnea, but Rod recalled that doctors found nothing wrong with their daughter.
Dee Dee was undeterred. Convinced that something - perhaps many things - were wrong with Gypsy, Dee Dee continued to seek medical treatment. She told Rod that Gypsy had a chromosomal defect that caused their daughter's many health issues, but she always seemed to have things under control, he recalled.
She took Gypsy out of school before the girl reached the third grade, opting instead for homeschooling. Gypsy managed to learn to read on her own by making her way through the "Harry Potter" series.
When she was about 7, Gypsy suffered a cut to her knee while riding on her grandfather's motorcycle.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Though her family said she appeared able to walk, Dee Dee insisted she would need surgery and from then, her daughter was confined to a wheelchair.
Gypsy went on to attend the Special Olympics and in 2001 - when Dee Dee claimed her 10-year-old daughter was only 8 - Gypsy was named the honorary queen of the Krewe of Mid-City Parade, a parade for children held during Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
"I have been very lucky," Dee Dee, whose name was listed as "Clauddine 'Deno' Pitre-Blanchard," at the time stated. "She is such a good child. She has never once complained."
By then, Dee Dee had claimed Gypsy suffered from poor physical and mental development, was both hearing and vision impaired, was unable to walk, needed to be fed through a feeding tube and had brain damage from seizures. She was often treated at the Children's Hospital, while her mother stayed at the Ronald McDonald House.
